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This is NOT a request for a recommendation of a "best" book. I'm looking for a definitive authoritative source to address a specific question...

I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine who is a retired high-school English teacher. We were discussing the correct usage of "a" vs "an".

In her opinion the article must always match the subject. Thus she says "an emergency" is correct but so is "an dire emergency", she claims.

I personally think she is wrong, that the correct usage of the indefinite article is never based on the subject per se but rather only on the vocal pronunciation of the most proximate word following the article.

Any suggestions for a source that would generally be well-respected by school teachers?

O.M.Y.
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    There's no authority such as the Academies of France and Spain. As for 'an dire emergency', that's plain wrong. Whether to use 'a' or 'an' is a purely phonetic decision: when the word begins with a vowel sound, use 'an'. Hence 'a university' [university begins with a /j/ sound] and 'a one-time chance' [one begins with a /w/ sound]. – David Garner Aug 01 '15 at 16:55
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    There is, and can be, no definitive source; the language is redefined every day by the millions of people who use it. – Tim Lymington Aug 01 '15 at 16:57
  • @TimLymington, true English is evolving, but do we not have any foundational texts that are used to train our teachers? – O.M.Y. Aug 01 '15 at 16:59
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    In order to resolve the matter you raised about a and an you only need to read a book or a newspaper. NOBODY interprets the rule in a way which would produce an dire emergency. It is entirely erroneous to think of it in that way. – WS2 Aug 01 '15 at 17:02
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    @WS2, obviously SOMEBODY does interpret the rule this way, and she spent a lifetime teaching her students this interpretation as well. – O.M.Y. Aug 01 '15 at 17:04
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    @O.M.Y.: All I can say is I'm gobsmacked to see that your friend was apparently an English teacher! On the plus side, at least she's retired. – FumbleFingers Aug 01 '15 at 17:05
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    @O.M.Y: No, there is no such source, and since there is no unified teacher training, there is no unified authoritative source. As for the Somebody, multiply by hundreds of thousands of individual interpretations, all contradictory, all passed on dutifully to generations to come. Read a few answers here and you'll see. There are some sources that simply present facts, but mostly you'll see hypotheses raised to a degree of certitude normally reserved for theology – John Lawler Aug 01 '15 at 17:07
  • @TimLymington, if not a definitive source I would settle for a well respected authoratative source. Like the OED is generally well respected for definitions, is there no similar text for grammar & usage? – O.M.Y. Aug 01 '15 at 17:07
  • @O.M.Y.: Yes, dozens. Neither the books nor the teachers have any authority over adults. The situation is complex, since the language itself has some authority over users and users have ultimate authority over the language. But you will have to define authoritative for yourself (and don't forget the various different registers and dialects which affect correctness.) – Tim Lymington Aug 01 '15 at 17:08
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    Sigh... so in the end the best I can do is ask for a list of well respected texts and hope they all agree. Of course first we would have to find agreement on which texts are the most well respected and THAT is a different kind of question all together. – O.M.Y. Aug 01 '15 at 17:12
  • Yes, but it's not just a matter of listing words. English grammar is all structures and it's all about speech, not writing. Generally those who grow up in Anglophone educational systems are totally ignorant of even basic facts about English (like how definite and indefinite articles work), even when they always use them correctly; it's rather like starting calculus without doing arithmetic and algebra first. So studying a couple hundred syntactic rules is more likely to confuse than enlighten. – John Lawler Aug 01 '15 at 17:12
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    :@O.M.Y. You have reached the beginning of wisdom. – Tim Lymington Aug 01 '15 at 17:13
  • @JohnLawler: My question was not so much about a text for the masses but rather for the scholarly. Surely those who have PhD's in English Linguistics must reference some authoritative grammatical texts that are well accepted by their peers when they submit their doctoral thesis ? – O.M.Y. Aug 01 '15 at 17:17
  • @TimLymington: "The breaking of joy is the beginning of wisdom." -- Somtow Sucharitkul (aka S.P. Somtow) WAAH! :~( – O.M.Y. Aug 01 '15 at 17:19
  • Actually, the editorial staff at The New Yorker comes as close as you can get to a P-ist "authority". – Hot Licks Aug 01 '15 at 17:22
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    There are two definitive grammars of modern English, and many lesser ones. The two big ones are the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Huddleston and Pullum, which runs about 1500 pages and requires two hands. The other is McCawley's The Syntactic Phenomena of English, which is less than a thousand pages and has a paperback edition. Neither is light going. We're talking college textbooks. – John Lawler Aug 01 '15 at 17:27
  • @JohnLawler: If you put that as an answer I'll select it. It may not be perfect but it is essentially what I was looking for. Now I just have to see if my local community college has access to either of these. :) – O.M.Y. Aug 01 '15 at 17:29
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    I would recommend starting with McCawley; the first three chapters -- where he explains what he's talking about and how he's going to describe it -- are online from Google Books, so you can see what it's like. – John Lawler Aug 01 '15 at 17:33
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    The 2002 reference grammar by Huddleston and Pullum (et al.), The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, discusses that issue on page 1618: "The other case is specific to one grammaticised word, the indefinite article, which has an as a liaison form before vowels: … An is used when the next word begins with a vowel. The choice between a and an depends purely on the phonological context. The liaison form occurs before a vowel sound, not before particular letters." – F.E. Aug 01 '15 at 18:41
  • Also, a decent usage dictionary, such as Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (MWDEU), will usually discuss this topic. In my copy of Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage (MWCDEU), this is discussed under entry *"a, an"* on page 1. – F.E. Aug 01 '15 at 20:46
  • Even some general purpose dictionaries will also briefly cover this: "The form an is used before words beginning with a vowel sound." (excerpt from New Oxford American Dictionary) – F.E. Aug 01 '15 at 20:50
  • The Cambridge text suggested by John Lawler and then expanded on by F.E. seems to expressly address (and refute) the question of article/subject matching, to wit: "The choice between a and an depends purely* on the phonological context.*" [emphasis added] – O.M.Y. Aug 02 '15 at 02:18
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    Post should be closed. OP is not able to verify simplest grammar facts by himself either in online grammars or in printed texts. – rogermue Aug 02 '15 at 07:52
  • @rogermue: Respectfully, I am not seeking the "simplest grammar facts" ... I am looking for a scholarly grammar reference work that is far more detailed and more definitive than just a "simple" dictionary entry. John Lawler and F.E. both have provided such a reference in the Cambridge text and if either of them cares to convert their comments to an Answer I will gladly select one. If not I will answer this question myself per this Meta post. – O.M.Y. Aug 02 '15 at 14:36
  • You asked for an authority, this is the closest you'll get. Darn sight better than the retired English teacher, who either must have been confused, or is becoming senile. It happens... – Mari-Lou A Aug 02 '15 at 16:50
  • @Mari-LouA I believe in that "possible duplicate" Question the asker was looking for a respected general grammar reference. As mentioned in the opening of my Question I am looking for a respected reference to address a very specific grammar question, to wit: What role does article/subject agreement play in selecting the correct form of the indefinite article?" According to the Cambridge text the answer is none-at-all, only phonological context controls. – O.M.Y. Aug 02 '15 at 17:00
  • There is no officially recognized language authority, but the OED and CGEL are both very respectable reference books. You teacher would be a fool not to acknowledge their existance and influence. Please best accept Chasley's answer. – Mari-Lou A Aug 02 '15 at 17:09
  • The very heavily related, quoted and linked question, the classic old chestnut: When should I use “a” vs “an”? – Mari-Lou A Aug 02 '15 at 17:15

3 Answers3

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There is no central authority.

  1. Search online for a versus an, you will see that the rule is If the next word begins with a vowel sound then use 'an' Here is the first example that I found http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/a-versus-an?page=all

Note that it says the next word, not the next noun and it also says a vowel sound not a vowel.

  1. Search the works of some famous and well respected authors. Find examples. You can start with Shakespeare, continue with Dickens, and then search online for famous English authors, e.g https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:20th-century_English_writers

  2. Buy any book, any newspaper, any magazine, any packet of soap-powder. Read it and mark the examples you find.

  3. Use Microsoft Word (or your favourite word-processor) - type various combinations. Use the grammar/spelling check. You will see that incorrect use of 'a' or 'an' will be indicated.

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chasly - supports Monica
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  • What I am looking for is a scholarly and peer reviewed reference. While I am sure I could find hundreds of Google hits that demonstrate the "correct" usage I have no doubt I could find an equal number of variant and just plain wrong demonstrations. Look at how often people use the word "not" to end a sentence in order to negate the precedent. As you are from the UK you know that examples of "an hospital" are prevalent in the British use of English but in the US it will be "a hospital" because we always pronounce the "H" in that word. – O.M.Y. Aug 01 '15 at 17:39
  • PS: What is a "packet of soap-powder" ? – O.M.Y. Aug 01 '15 at 17:54
  • @O.M.Y - I think it is highly unlikely that you will find a scholarly work on the subject. In English, our authorities are our forebears. I did not suggest using Google search, that will turn up all sorts of nonsense. I recommended looking at published work. If you wish to do research then Google Scholar maybe a good place to start. I don't intend to do the research for you. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 01 '15 at 18:19
  • @O.M.Y. - search online for "packet of soap-powder", you will find it. https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=%22packet+of+soap-powder%22++:us. But that's off-topic ;-) – chasly - supports Monica Aug 01 '15 at 18:21
  • Google contains lots of "nonsense" but it also contains the texts of many of the very publications you suggest I review and I am capable of filtering out the wheat from the chaff. My point was that given any subjective source (which all first person usage would be) one can find numerous valid and invalid examples. Sheer numbers of "good examples" is the literary equivalent of mob rule. Even the dreaded Wikipedia does not allow quantities of citations to override quality of citations. Thus my search for an objective (peer reviewed or at the very least well vetted) reference work. – O.M.Y. Aug 02 '15 at 02:28
  • Good luck in your search. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 03 '15 at 00:04
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Chasly is correct. I am amazed that anyone could recommend "an dire ..." I have never heard or read such a construct and would unhesitatingly correct it when editing. The only thing I can add is that "an" may be used when a word starts with h, as in "an historical account". Even this usage begins to sound pedantic in contemporary prose.

Anton
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One such study is available here (for a price): A Corpus-Based Sociolinguistic Study of Indefinite Article Forms in London English, in Journal of English Linguistics, December 2010, vol. 38, no. 4, 297-334.

I don't claim that is the definitive study (and I won't even touch authoritative, for fear of revenge and retribution from the anti-nazi-grammar nazis), and I don't expect I (or anyone) can produce anything other than an opinion on which that definitive study might be...and even then, that opinion would have to hedge around which of the possible scholarly domains the study was definitive in and for what time period. If the realm is scientific (broadly speaking, to include sociology, psychology and etc.), the notion that there is, and if so, which of the available is, a definitive study, will always be subject to debate.

In any case, the study cited may provide useful insights into general patterns of and underlying influences on a/an choice, although it (perhaps usefully) restricts the data analyzed to a London corpus. The cited study does have the advantage of being a more recent analysis by 8 years than such petrified sources as the Cambridge Grammar (cited above in comments), and it notably takes into account more recent trends reflecting the rapid change in language usage over those 8 and the subsequent 5 years.

JEL
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  • I am hesitant to select your Answer (A) primarily because this is a pay-to-access text which rather defeats the purpose of SE to provide detailed Answers to future readers, and (B) as you yourself noted this particular work is a very regionally confined usage study and certainly not even vaguely authoritative. – O.M.Y. Aug 02 '15 at 15:38
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    @O.M.Y. - You've had your answer. I think it's time to accept it. The idea that the indefinite article is spelled in accordance with the following noun in preference to the following word whatever it may be is utterly ridiculous. No-one in the history of the English language has ever followed that rule and no native speaker ever will. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 02 '15 at 23:54
  • No-one in the history of the English language has ever followed that rule ... "It was [Otto] Jespersen who first questioned the Bloomfieldian solution. In 1941, he proposed that the syntactic class of the following word determined the form of the indefinite article; specifically, an occurred before adjectives, and a before nouns." per this source provided (indirectly) by Mari-Lou A – O.M.Y. Aug 04 '15 at 18:57
  • The idea that the indefinite article is spelled in accordance with the following noun in preference to the following word whatever it may be is utterly ridiculous. ... "in 1959, [Noam] Chomsky [...] proposed the revolutionary theory that an is the indefinite article used with animate nouns and a that used with inanimates." per the same source as for my Jespersen comment. – O.M.Y. Aug 04 '15 at 19:06
  • And finally there is of course my friend the retired school teacher who would also dispute that she never followed that rule, along with several of her students (assuming they had a good grade from her which would necessitate using her rules. ... But you're right, No-one in the history of the English language has ever followed that rule. Uh-huh. Yup. – O.M.Y. Aug 04 '15 at 19:14
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    @O.M.Y: Specgram is a satirical organization, in case that's not clear. Its pupose is humor, not truth. – herisson Aug 04 '15 at 22:03